The winner will receive a hardcover copy of the book The Welcome Table (Mary Burritt Christiansen Poetry Series).

Jay Udall's poems reflect his individual--as well as the common experience of--personal awakening. This collection of insightful poems evokes images and memories of the places, environments, and culture through which Udall has traveled during his lifetime. His poems cross personal boundaries to express universal concepts of painful self-realization and the acceptance of a beautiful, yet harsh world. However, the world he describes is not just his own. He fantastically ventures into the skin of lions, mice, and cicadas, creating poignant metaphors of the human condition.

The beauty of his work is that Udall finds personal connections and insight in the most seemingly mundane experiences of life as well as the most traumatic and extreme events. These coalesce to create an arena for us to think about our own life-realizations while joining Udall on his journey.